Help, New Sound Setup for Computer

Marsman said:
If you're considering £100 on a sound card, then why not spend the extra and get an Essence STX?

I know that's what I have been saying not to do, but I might have been a bit too vocal against high end sound cards. They are very good, it's just a couple of past experiences have altered my thinking toward spending £150 on a sound card. With a decent budget, I feel that an external solution is a better choice.

For me personally, with a decent budget, I'd go for a DGX then connect a DAC to that. You get the benefit of a gaming sound card, plus a good quality external DAC and amp.

If you are thinking of spending £100 on a sound card, then you're already 2/3 of the way to getting an STX. For you, it might be the better choice, as it would certainly solve the problem to this question asked by rids:

"If the OP bought a Xonar DGX and a DACMagic Plus, how would it be connected up so that positional audio was available for both headphones and speakers?"

Rather than trying to connect both DAC and AV receiver via optical to a cheaper sound card, if you get an STX, then you can connect the AV receiver via optical and use headphones from the sound card.
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That was one of my original options, to buy the Asus Xonar Essence STX II and use the socket of the sound card for the headphone.

A bit confused now as to the best route to take :confused:
 
I've had no problems at all with Windows 8.1 and my STX.

I've had it since Windows 7, then Windows 8 and now Windows 8.1. All I did was download and install the Asus driver (Jan 2014) and it's never missed a beat.

I have had issues today with it not liking running at 192kHz but there again, neither does anything else I have. So I switched back to 96kHz and it's been fine ever since.
 
rids57 said:
I've had no problems at all with Windows 8.1 and my STX.

I've had it since Windows 7, then Windows 8 and now Windows 8.1. All I did was download and install the Asus driver (Jan 2014) and it's never missed a beat.

I have had issues today with it not liking running at 192kHz but there again, neither does anything else I have. So I switched back to 96kHz and it's been fine ever since.
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Sounds good, so out of the two Xonar Essence STX card, which is better and more value for money, giving the first one is under £100?
 
The STX II has slightly better opamps and has an extra low gain setting for IEMs. I think there were a few other minor improvements but apart from that there's not much in it. You can of course roll opamps in the original STX too and you can even add MUSES 01 & 02 opamps if you want the best but they do sell for £40 each (if you can even get them).

Put it this way, I've had no urge to buy an STX II to replace my STX, the differences are not great enough and I don't use IEMs with it.

I'm talking about the standard STX II not the multi-channel version with the daughterboard (which I have no use for).

Personally, if you can get an original STX for under £100 I'd go with that rather than fork out another £75 for the STX II
 
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rids57 said:
The STX II has slightly better opamps and has an extra low gain setting for IEMs. I think there were a few other minor improvements but apart from that there's not much in it. You can of course roll opamps in the original STX too and you can even add MUSES 01 & 02 opamps if you want the best but they do sell for £40 each (if you can even get them).

Put it this way, I've had no urge to buy an STX II to replace my STX, the differences are not great enough and I don't use IEMs with it.

I'm talking about the standard STX II not the multi-channel version with the daughterboard (which I have no use for).

Personally, if you can get an original STX for under £100 I'd go with that rather than fork out another £75 for the STX II
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Gone for the original STX card, pick it up on Tuesday.

Now I just need to sort out a new AV receiver for my Gale speakers ;)
 
A quick update. I have collected and installed the Asus Xonar Essence STX card. The headphone sounds are just wow compared to just using on-board.

I need a new AV Receiver and possible new headphones, but not sure on the cans yet.
 
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There's a lot of good choices in the £200-£300 region. Pioneer, Yamaha, Marantz and Sony. I'd probably avoid Onkyo, as some people have had issues. I don't think you can go wrong with other brands.

Going for a 4K compatible receiver would probably be a good move. You're probably looking in the region of £300+, but you'll have it should you wish to buy a 4K TV at some point.
 
Marsman said:
There's a lot of good choices in the £200-£300 region. Pioneer, Yamaha, Marantz and Sony. I'd probably avoid Onkyo, as some people have had issues. I don't think you can go wrong with other brands.

Going for a 4K compatible receiver would probably be a good move. You're probably looking in the region of £300+, but you'll have it should you wish to buy a 4K TV at some point.
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I have heard some good things about the Yamaha and Onkyo brands, but these were more for a home cinema setup. I will look at the Yamaha receivers.

Do you have any model ranges to hand, which I should be looking at?



rids57 said:
Glad you're happy with it - it does have an extremely good DAC and a decent headphone amp. :)
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Yes I know I wasn't expecting too much from my speakers, given that I am using an old AV box, but the quality from the Headphone is better than I expected. I am wondering what the Sennhiser 650's sound like now:p

I don't know if mine has a problem already but when I change from Speaker to headphone there is a clicking noise coming from the card?
 
I have quickly had a look online and found 3 AV Receivers that are in my budget.

Yamaha RXV677
Sony STRDN1050
Onkyo TXNR636

On the face of them all, the Onkyo seems like the best one to choose?
 
They all look good, but Onkyo did have some issues with previous models where I believe the HDMI boards failed. Whether or not they have solved that with new models, I don't know, so it's worth checking that out first if you can.

Might be worth creating a thread in the home cinema section, getting advice from Lucid or one of the other guys who will know more than I do, about which would be the best choice for you.
 
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